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    Leatha's Bar-B-Que

    4.0 (250 reviews)
    ModerateBarbeque

    Leatha's Bar-B-Que Photos

    Business Info

    LEATHA'S BAR-B-QUE ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Moderate noise
    Good for kids
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Leatha's Bar-B-Que

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    Reviews With Photos

    The entrance to the place.
    Jose R.

    The Food is amazing! One of the best BBQ places I had tried. The service is friendly and fast. The ambiance is calm and relaxed.

    Jason B.

    I can't believe I've never put up a review of Leathas Bbq. I travel for work and this was always a must stop for me when I was in Hattiesburg. It's sad to hear that they have moved though. I'm sure Covid hit them very hard but it was sure the right business decision to love to a better location. Personably I loved the old location. There was always something special about walking into that old school house. I loved the original wood floors. The star of the show was always the chicken & pecan pie for me. Next time I'm in the area I'll try to find the new location.

    I've gotten food Togo from here before. But this much grease is not appetizing
    Ashley H.

    My pulled pork was swimming in grease. Not very appetizing. I ate my fried potatoes and threw the rest away.

    Bread and bbq sauce. The plate said jolly holidays and it's July it's all gucci I dug it
    Brianna B.

    First of all how does this place only have 184 reviews on Yelp and only 4 stars??? I'll start with the atmosphere. It's extremely no frills but homey. Servers were all friendly. Although it's no frills, it was still really clean and well kept. It has a very Deep South vibe. I dug it. Now, here is the kicker. I'm not a bbq eater. I actually don't like it much. I'm especially not someone that eats beef, but I can eat chicken every so often. With that said, we're in Hattiesburg for the weekend and saw a lot of rave reviews about Leatha's, and my husband loves bbq, so we stopped by and wow. Just, wow. I got 1/2 chicken with the cole slaw and sweet potato fries and my husband got the beef ribs (they weren't on the bone they were pulled?). My chicken was good and the sides were delicious. I also loved the sauce. It was sweet and I think vinegar based? Don't quote me on that though. Anyway here is what shocked me..I loved, and I mean LOVED the beef ribs. Me..someone who never eats beef/doesn't enjoy beef. The fact that the beef ribs were my favorite thing about my meal says A LOT. Leatha's, I salute you because you're the first (and probably only place) I'd actually eat beef ribs from. They were so incredibly tender. Just straight up perfection. My husband was laughing at me the entire time because he was shocked that I was actually eating beef. So guys, this place is the real deal. GO HERE.

    N L.

    New location, same great food. New location is updated but has considerably smaller dining area compared to old one and new location has outside seating which old location didn't. They were out of my favorite which are beef ribs so I went with a large pork plate with fries and potato salad and a sausage dog. Tastes like the younger generation is ready to keep the legacy going.

    Ribeye, THE BEST
    David R.

    I could write a book about my experience this evening at Letha's ! From the greeting you get when you step inside , to the tour of the pit , THE BEST ! I ordered the ribeye steak with a side of ribs. My other sides were fried potatoes and baked beans. They also bring a hot roll to the table . The dinning area is filled with pictures and autographs. Really cool to look at while you wait . While I was looking around at the pics. on the wall, they brought out some potato salad and slaw !! WOW !!! I have never had better service, never ! The ribeye is also the best I've had ! If you are ever in Hattiesburg, MS. , do yourself a favor and stop in . Soak it all up ! Go get Full

    Family style picnic tables.
    Mike C.

    I haven't been to Hattiesburg in over 20 years, but last weekend we took the RV out for a quick spin and headed to Picayune and then Hattiesburg for a quick day trip. We didn't arrive in town until 2:00 PM and were ready to eat lunch. I pulled out my phone, clicked on the Yelp app and filtered out the top rated restaurants. Low and behold, Leatha's was the top rated pick so we opted to give it a try. The address is correct in Yelp, however, the map location is not correct. The restaurant sits way back off the highway, so it's easy to miss if you are not paying attention to the signage on Hwy 98. Anyway, we found the place with not too much trouble and there was plenty of room for RV parking off to the side of the restaurant. The building itself is very unassuming, but in a cool, rustic kind of way. And you can see the small smokehouse outside the restaurant where "all the magic happens". When we walked in, we noticed that there were plenty of picnic style tables setup and the floors were unfinished plywood; all of which added to the rustic charm. We were immediately greeted by our server Glenda, who was the nicest and most attentive server ever. She introduced us to Ms. Leatha's 2 daughters that run the place now that she has passed away. However, Ms. Leatha's picture resides on the wall right above the entrance to the kitchen as a reminder of her legacy. We were told that only her daughters have the recipe to her secret BBQ sauce. Now to the food. My wife and I split the four meat plate, which included a 1/4 chicken, pulled pork, pork ribs and beef ribs. The chicken was super juicy and cooked to perfection. The skin was slightly crisped with a deep smoky flavor. The generous serving of pulled pork was so tender that a simple stab with the fork shredded it up one bite at a time. The pork ribs were as tender as I imagined and fell off the bone as soon as you bit into them. However, it was the beef ribs that truly one me over and made me such a huge fan. I've eaten a lot of BBQ, and some places just don't know how to cook beef ribs as I've had then served tough and sometimes rubbery. However, Leatha's beef ribs (served off the bone) are just as tender as the pulled pork and they melted in your mouth. I would have liked to gnaw on a beef bone, but these are the best beef ribs I've ever had. All of Leathas's BBQ is served with their secret sauce on the side. And when I say on the side, I mean we got a mug and a small pitcher of BBQ sauce along with a platter of delicious hot rolls. The sauce has just the right blend of sweet/vinegar/tangy flavor that is best kept a secret. For those who don't like BBQ sauce, the smoked flavor from Leatha's smoker is delicious all on its own. However, I'm a "saucy" guy and poured it on thick. The potato salad was ok and featured huge chunks of potatoes mixed throughout. It definitely had a little bit of a mustard aftertaste with it though. The cole slaw was just ok and also had a pronounced "mustardy" taste as well. I'm not a huge mustard guy, so I thought these sides were just ok. However, the baked beans were delicious and had a pronounced BBQ/brown sugar sweetness that I would definitely recommend. This place is very kid friendly and they encouraged my picture taking, which I politely asked before proceeding. All in all, we left very happy and very full.

    Beth G.

    Delicious. Want a real taste of rural MS (both food wise and culturally)? Go here. The restaurant is in a shack on HWY 98. The food tastes so country and delicious. When the owner Leatha died, she gave her fortune to Southern Miss, which tells you what a giving person she was. The inside looks just as country as the outside. When people walk buy, you can feel the building shake a little, hehe. The food tho is flavored just right! I am a pulled pork kinda girl but also really enjoyed tasting other people's food who I came with. Everything was great! Yum!

    Kelsey J.

    This was a cool place to eat! The lady had some preacher guy being a major jerk but she handled it great. I loved the food and that they were running hgtv! Thank you for being so lovely and authentic!

    So good I bought a bottle to bring home to Florida

    Came here to eat after spending a week in the field at Camp Shelby. Was this a blessing or what. I was hungry, at least I thought I was hungry because I ordered the 3 meat plate. I finished about 1/2 the plate but good part was I had leftovers for dinner. Service was prompt, I got a sweet tea for a drink. I mean, what else is there to drink when it comes to BBQ? We had our meal and afterwards, we were shown the smoker and talked to the cook about the process. Really amazing atmosphere here. It's a wide open place with cheap furniture around but a great atmosphere. I'd much rather eat at a place like this than something fancy where the food is average. I'm kind of picky when it comes to BBQ sauce but I really liked theirs. It was so good that I bought a bottle and brought it home to Orlando with me.

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    2 years ago

    the food here was great! service was all there and very respectful! and it had the best barbecue vibe!

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    2 years ago

    Best bbq I've tasted in petal so far thank you for the hospitality towards me and my mother who is battling cancer

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    Page 1 of 7

    Leatha's Bar-B-Que Reviews in Other Languages

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    Stricks Original BBQ & Catering - Jalapeño cornbread

    Stricks Original BBQ & Catering

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    Road House - BBQ Pork Shank

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    Petal, Mississippi has a population of only around 12,000. It's total land covers only about 16…read moresquare miles. Within that 16 square miles there are over 30 various types of restaurants for it's 12,000 citizens to pick from. Multiple Mexican places, several Asian, an Italian joint, a steak joint, a couple fried catfish places, some sit down chain restaurants and almost all the fast food joints you can want. Yet some how among this dizzying array of places to eat, Road House manages to stand at the top of the list. (Shared with Sully's). Everytime my wife and I have gone we've had delicious food and great service. My favorite is the burger. The first time I had it I was amazed at the smokey flavor it had. At the time I had no idea they were smoking their beef patties at the time. My wife had the Mississippi Philly Cheesesteak which was also as amazing. Servers were attentive, very friendly and fun to talk to. Desserts were delicious and fresh as well. My only couple complaints were the restaurant was kept ridiculously cold. Even the servers said it was too cold in there for them as they shuffled around wearing hoodies. The other issue I had was it seemed like place couldn't decide if it was a casual family restaurant, or fine dining. The decor and the way the staff interacts with the tables suggest casual family restaurant. But the pricing leans more towards fine dining. This is not at all any reason why you should not eat here. And based on what i've seen recently, most patrons don't see this place the same way I do as they are consistently packed which is great! We're planning on another visit soon. I've been hankering for that burger again. Highly recommend, but bring a small coat just in case the temp is set to sub-zero again.

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    Restaurant Sign

    Leatha's Bar-B-Que - bbq - Updated May 2026

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